Getting a Second Life: Join, Create an Avatar, Download Software, Log in to the virtual world.

This is a quick machinima showing the process of creating a Second Life account and logging into the virtual world:

Go to the web site: http://www.secondlife.com
Click on the JOIN button (orange)
Select a name and give your email address. Names cannot be changed.
You will receive confirmation of your account in your email (confirm the account by going to your email and clicking on the link)
You will now be asked to select an avatar and gender for the avatar. Avatars and gender can be changed once you are in Second Life.
Follow the link provided to download the software from the web site.
Install the software on your computer.
Launch the Second Life application and log in using your Second Life username (first and last name) and password (keep this a secret)
You will land on one of the many help islands for orientation.
You will see a Heads Up Device (HUD) on your screen with instructions to guide you through the various tutorials.
Repeat the tutorials and try out others on help island.
Don't be in too much of a rush to leave to go into Second Life.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Take the time to become comfortable and ask for help.
Once comfortable, you can teleport to the 'exit island' and hang out a bit there to hone your newly acquired skills.
When ready, just teleport right out of there!
Welcome to your Second Life.
First stop: Info International Island in the Info Archipelago:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island%20International/128/128/0
Systems Requirements:
Download Second Life: http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php

New Media Symposium Conference on Mashups: April. 1-2, 2008

SnapshotConfessionsMashup_006, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Another great conference by NMC being offered in Second Life and via the LearningTimes site using Adobe Connect. The keynote was delivered by Wayne Hodgins via satellite from a sailboat in La Paz. Along with his first mate pup, he provided clarity to the web 2.0 and mashup picture. Brilliant! Brian Lamb's 'Confessions of a Mashup Un-Artist' had people dancing on the old school bus and in the air... it was dead inspiring and made me want to run home and layer a few tracks in one of these audio packages so infrequently use. I'll provide the link shortly.
Other sessions that I managed to catch included: mashup Contest at Upenn: Copyright and Free Culture which provided us with an enviable view of their library commons offering audio, video and other popular software, along with specialized staff in IT services, time management, writing, research by the librarians and a super lab with equipment for digitizing video and audio

Mystery Manor through the SL Release Candidate 1_19_1_4

mysterymanor2, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

the glow... the mystery... the manor...
through Release Candidate 1_19_1_4.

html and jambina almost on a prim

html and jambina almost on a prim, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

yea!

HTML on a prim showing my blog: refresh is working

html on a prim showing my blog: refresh is working, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Yea, I love this!
Super cool.... everyone is going to be updating their work on the web for a quick-fix refresh in SL. Ha, who would have thought.

New Media Consortium Conference on Mashups

New Media Consortium Mashups, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Should be working, but i'm messing with the sky a bit in the SL Release Candidate 1_19_1_4. The snapshot shortcut (ctrl-shift-s) feature is not working. So, I'm updating the blog to check the HTML on a prim feature... we'll see in a minute.